286 APPENDIX. 



sea fosters no sea weed — that this law, I say, holds good also for 

 the sea, m the direction of its depth ; for when we descend, vege- 

 table life vanishes much sooner than the animal, and, even from 

 the depths to which no ray of light is capable of penetrating, 

 the sounding-lead brings up news at least of living infusoria," — 

 Schleiden's Lectures, p. 403-406. 



" Besides great numbers of individuals, and great rapidity of 

 development, we come to absolute corporeal size. So far as we 

 know, every group of animals has its l?trgest representatives in 

 water. The largest mammal, and, indeed, the largest animal now 

 living upon the globe, is the whale, which, when full grown, is at 

 least five times as long as the largest elephant. Among birds, the 

 albatross, which sails almost exclusively over the sea, has the 

 greatest expansion of wings (15 feet*); the most terrible of the 

 lizard group, the crocodile, lives in the water. * * * * The largest 

 of all known serpents, the Brazilian anaconda, lives, at all events, 

 principally in the water, and the East India water-snakes seem to 

 be amoniT the most terrible of the poisonous kinds." — The Plant, 

 by M. J. ScHLEiDEN, M.D., p. 395, 396. 



L.— Page 271, ^ 583. 

 MORAL INFLUENCE OF THE WIND AND CURRENT CHARTS. 



The labor, I am encouraged to believe, is profitable to the sea- 

 faring man in more ways than one. Old seamen sometimes en- 

 courage, me by telling of the wholesome eff'ects which the Wind 

 and Current Charts are having in improving and advancing the 

 moral condition of sailor-men. I quote the following letter, re- 

 ceived while these pages are going through the press, in illustra- 

 tion of what I mean : 



" Callao, January 10th, 1855. 



" Sir, — Having to proceed from this to the Chincha Islands and 

 remain three months, I avail myself of the present opportunity to 

 forward to you abstracts of my two passages over your southern 

 routes, although not required to do so until my own return to the 

 United States next summer, knowing that you are less amply sup- 

 plied with abstracts of voyages over these regions than of many 

 other parts of the ocean ; and, such as it is, I am happy to con- 

 tribute my mite toward furnis-hing you with material to work out 

 still farther toward perfection your great and glorious task, not 

 only of pointing out the most speedy routes for ships to follow over 

 the ocean, but also of teaching us sailors to look about us, and see 

 by what wonderful manifestations of the wisdom and goodness of 

 the great God w^e are continually surrounded. 



* I once caught one, off Cape Horn, which measured sixteen feet from tip to tip. 

 — Maury, 



